Lena Dunham Shares How Getting Tattoos Helps Her Take Ownership of Her Body

Lena Dunham has spent a lot of time inking herself up these past few months-and for a powerful reason. The 31-year-old actress recently took to Instagram to share both of her new tattoos, explaining how they've helped her feel connected to her body again.

"Been tatting myself up like crazy this month," she captioned a photo of her new tattoo on her Instagram story.

In another post, she showed off the next tattoo of two kewpie dolls scooping into a barrel. "These kewpies been on me a few weeks," she wrote alongside the pic.

In the third and final post, the body positive activist shared a close-up image of the first tattoo with an empowering message. "I think it gives me a sense of control and ownership of a body that's often beyond my control," she explained.

Lena has been open about feeling disconnected with her body because of her long and grueling struggle with endometriosis. The disease affects one in ten women and causes the uterine lining to grow outside the uterus-often attaching itself to other internal organs. Every month, the body still tries to shed this tissue which leads to extremely painful cramps throughout the abdomen, bowel problems, nausea, and heavy bleeding. While endometriosis is fairly common it's often difficult to diagnose and cannot be cured-something Lena knows firsthand. (Related: How Much Pelvic Pain Is Normal for Menstrual Cramps?)In April, the Girls creator shared that she was finally "disease-free" after having her fifth endometriosis-related surgery. Unfortunately, she was back at the hospital in May due to complications and is still uncertain about what the future holds.